Hammerfall sets Chennai Hearts on Fire - literally!!

This article has been written by Riju Dasgupta: hardcore metal geek extraordinaire, and huge Hammerfall fan.

I took a day off from work on the 25th of January to travel to Chennai to watch two of my favourite bands- Skid Row and Hammerfall in action at Saarang, the cultural fest of IIT Chennai. Just before I was all set to fly down, I received a call saying Skid Row had decided to back out of the fest. I was all set to back out of the gig, and almost nearly did so. But I’d made plans with my friends and it seemed pointless to cancel.

The IIT Chennai campus is roughly twice as large as the IIT Mumbai Campus. It is next to impossible to walk from the gate to where the shows were taking place. On top of everything else auto rickshaws charge twice as much as Mumbai. But I persevered and somehow survived. Only to catch the amateur rock band competition, which was indeed amateurish. None of the bands truly stood out.

The next day I came to the venue 2-3 hours prior to the gig to exchange my e-tickets for the real tickets. To my luck, Hammerfall was sound-checking at the time. They sounded so awesome that I could hardly contain my excitement. Post the sound check, I managed to catch up with the band, take autographs and speak for a bit. In the words of Hammerfall, it was a ‘natural high’ as I’m a huge fan of these Swedish legends. I also managed to catch the other international band Hurricane Bells which sounded fresh and exciting. Their claim to fame is their number on the Twilight soundtrack; a perfect band for the ‘chicks’ in the crowd.

Chennai based power/symphony metallers Blood and Iron kicked off the show. It might not have been their tightest performance, but they kept reminding the crowd how much they loved Hammerfall. The crowd was behind these local Chennai boys through the performance. 6/10

Purple Blood followed soon after. They were the winners of the rock band contest, Powerchords. They lacked the tightness for such a big stage. I guess as they become regulars on the gigging circuit, they might improve. 4/10

Escher’s Knot was next, and they raised the bar with their typically hardcore sound which drove the crowd completely wild. 8.5/10

Hurricane Bells totally bowled the crowd over with their brand of Indie pop. They had many couples in the audience cling to their partners and/or raise their lighters to the sky. 9/10
And then the lights dimmed and there was a long 20 minute wait. But then the Swedish monsters Hammerfall took the stage. Their catchy tunes had the crowd who’d probably never even heard of the band singing along from the word go. Vocalist Joacim Cans exerted complete control over the crowd, at times even having them hold their privates and howl at the sky. They played some of their best tracks including  Renegade, Hallowed be My Name, Glory To the Brave, Crimson Thunder, Heeding the Call and Any Means Necessary.

They returned for a short encore playing their two most popular tracks Let the Hammer Fall and Hearts on Fire. Their performance was coordinated to the max, a lesson to all the bands which played before them. Special mention must go to the backing vocals, which were simply out of the world. At the end of the night, everyone from the most die-hard metalhead to all the pop princesses present had a real blast. I would give them 20000/10.

So I conclude, Hammerfall @ Saarang, Chennai is the best show I’ve ever been to. Now I wait for Eddie, the ghoulish Iron Maiden mascot to rip me to pieces as revenge.

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You can check out Riju's power/thrash metal band Albatross here and his 'heavy mental' band Workshop here